Kanshiro hirome tebikae
Takahashi Katsuhiko's Heisei gesaku serial
By William Wetherall
First posted 20 January 2008
Last updated 10 June 2008
Takahashi Katsuhiko Biographical profile and other woodblock print fiction
Kanshiro series
1. Kanshiro hirome tebikae
2. Tengugoroshi
3. Ijin yurei
4. Bunmei kaika
"The man who came back" Partial translation of story about "Dog finds head"
Fujiokaya Yoshizo On Sudo Yoshizo, Fujiokaya diaries, and Onarimichi
Kanagaki Robun Partial translation of opening story in "Ushiya zodan aguranabe"
Kokon chomonju Full translation of esoragoto story about pictoral exaggeration
Takahashi Katsuhiko
Takahashi Katsuhiko (高橋克彦) is the most prolific and successful promoter of interest in news nishikie through illuminating commentary and didactic fiction. Before becoming debarking on his later career as a novelist, he had been an employee at an art museum, written a guide to the appreciation of ukiyoe, and taught early modern Japanese (Edo) literature at a college in his home prefecture.
Takahashi Katsuhiko was born into a medical family in Kanaishi in Iwate prefecture in 1947. He now makes his home in Morioka, the capital of Iwate.
When in high school he traveled in Europe and is supposed to have been the first Japanese to meet The Beatles. While traveling he was involved in a traffic accident that consumed most of his travel funds. This submitted a fictionalized story about this experience to a fiction magazine contest. The editor advised him not to write anything for ten years, so he went to college and studied ukiyoe and other aspects of Edo life and art.
Takahashi continued to write, however, and eventually returned to fiction as a vehicle for his interest in art history. In 1983 he received the 29th Edogawa Ranpo Prize for his historical mystery novel "Sharaku murder case" (写楽殺人事件 Sharaku satsujin jiken). This was the first of a series of historical mysteries involving ukiyoe masters. Titles now include Hokusai (1987), Hiroshige (1989), Harunobu (1991), and Utamaro (1991). Later he added Van Gogh (2002) to the list.
In 1986 Takahashi received the 7th Yoshikawa Eiji Literature New Writer Award for "Somon valley" (総門谷 Sōmondani), the first of several SFesque "legendary novels" (伝奇小説 denki shōsetsu). His by-line also adorns the covers of a number of "horror novels" (ホラー小説 horaa shōsetsu).
Mysteries set the past, however, have remained Takahashi's fictional forte. In 1987 he received the 40th Japan Mystery Writers Association Award for his Hokusai mystery. In 1992 he received the 106th Naoki Prize, and in 2000 he received the 34th Yoshikawa Eiki Literature Prize, for other works of fiction.
NHK adapted two of his historical novels for its "Taiga dorama", a major production which is serialized for a year every Sunday evening from 8:00-8:45. He is solely credited for the first parts of "Homura tatsu" (炎立つ), which was televised in 1993-1994 (Taiga drama No. 32), and for all of "Hokujo Tokimune" (北条時宗), which ran throughout 2001 (No. 40).
Takahashi's historical and period fiction
Before dedicating himself to fiction, Takahashi published several books on woodblock prints, including his introduction to news nishikie, which remains the most accessible book on the subject. These books. The scholarship invested in the writing of these non-fiction works, which illuminate social history through art, also informs his historical and period fiction.
Fiction set in the past is generally divided into two overlapping genres: "historical novels" (歴史小説 rekishi shōsetsu), which focus on historical figures and incidents, and "period novels" (時代小説 jidai shōsetsu), which may also involve historical characters and events but are mostly mostly concerned about spinning a tale against the social and political background of a past era.
Takahashi's novels about woodblock print artists are generally classified as "historical", while the Kanshiro stories would fall in the "period" category.
Takahashi contrives such stories around his interest in, and knowledge of, social history, especially as represented in woodblock prints. Of special interest here are the stories in Volume 4 of the Kanshiro series, which are are spun around news nishikie and the events they both depict and narrate, including atrocious crimes. They are -- to paraphrase Takahashi's characterization of one incident in relation to Yoshiiku's talent -- ideally suited to his own style of historical story telling.
Fiction set in the past, whether period or historical, is typically cast with a mix of imaginary and historical characters. Imaginary characters are often composites of historical figures, and historical characters are usually made to do and say things their namesakes are not necessarily known to have said or done except in the writer's imagination.
Fiction -- whether set in the past, present or future -- tends to be entertaining to the extent it plausibly deforms or exaggerates for the sake of creating interest. Much like drawings that intentionally depict things other than how they actually appear to most people, Takahashi's stories are truly esoragoto slices of late Edo and early Meiji life.
Gesaku as a panacea of life
If there is one fault in Takahashi's writing -- in my humble opinion -- it is his habit of switching hats in mid-narrative, from that of a story teller to that of an art or social historian. Many of his stories would have been better if he had dramatized, rather than explained, the background facts he feels the reader needs to grasp in order to understand the foreground action.
This fault is not by any means monopolized by Takahashi. Fiction writers generally have human impulses to teach and preach, but perhaps scholars and journalists who turn to fiction have more difficulty keeping such didactic impulses from destroying the suspension of conscious thought that a good narrative demands.
Clearly, though, Takahashi has succeeded in keeping the "frivolous works" (戯作 gesaku) spirit of the Edo and Meiji periods alive and well in the Heisei era -- in the sense that the credo of the true "writers of frivolous works" (戯作者 gesakusha) has always been to have fun writing what readers would enjoy reading -- knowing that the panacea for life is humor.
"Kanshiro hirome tebikae" series
The long-deceased world of news nishikie does not quite come to life on the cold walls of museum exhibition rooms, no matter how warmly they are illuminated. It takes the literary breath of a writer like Takahashi Katsuhiko (高橋克彦) to resusciate the people who animated this world and transport the reader back to their side during the late Tokugawa and early Meiji periods when Edo became Tokyo.
Takahashi has recreated the ambience of the places and times in a series of stories which feature the antics of Koya Kanshiro, a young information broker who mixes elbows with popular writers and illustrators, as all concerned, including the reader, are drawn into the solution of mysterious incidents. Takahashi -- humanist, humorist, and historian -- takes himself just seriously enough to create the illusion of escape into a costumed world that often seems real.
The series -- Kanshirō hirome tebikae (完四郎広目手控) -- now consists of four volumes, each with twelve episodes, all first published in the monthly fiction magazine Shōsetsu Subaru (小説すばる). All titles were first published in hard cover editions (images below), followed by bunko (paperback) editions. Both the magazine and the books are published by Shūeisha (集英社).
Kanshiro hirome tebikae No. 1Kanshiro information notes完四郎広目手控 This premier volume of the Koya Kanshiro series develops the hero's life and character through twelve episodes set during the years that the United States is pressuring Japan to open ports to provision American ships and accommodate trade. Kanshiro, a disenfranchised samurai too young and lacking in social status, has to survive on his native wits and charm. In need of a vocation, the fictional Kanshiro becomes an information broker through the device of crossing paths with two historical figures -- Fujiokaya Yoshizo, who made his living collecting and disseminating information -- and Kanagaki Robun, a writer of frivolous stories and journalist who also traded in information. See sections below for more information on both of these men, who by all accounts were truly characters of their times. The twelve stories in this collection are partly inspired by Ando Hiroshige's "One hundred scenes of famous places in Edo" (名所江戸百景 Meisho Edo hyakkei). Published between 1856 and 1858, the series includes about 118 prints. Hiroshige, born in 1797, died in 1858. From the blub on the cover band:
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Kanshiro hirome tebikae No. 2Tengu killings天狗殺し The twelve stories in this second collection in the Kanshiro series are partly inspired by Hiroshige's "Fifty-three stations of the Tokaido" (東海道五十三次 Tōkaidō go-jū-san tsugi). The series has 55 prints, including the starting and ending stations in Edo (Nihonbashi) and Kyoto (Sanjō Ńhashi) -- according to this definition of the route. From the blub on the cover band:
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Kanshiro hirome tebikae No. 3Alien apparitionsいじん幽霊 This stories in this third volume of Kanshiro adventures are inspired by an assortment of triptychs and single prints, most of them belonging to the "foreigner drawings" (異人画 ijinga) or "Yokohama pictures" (横浜絵 Yokohamae) genres. From the blub on the cover band:
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Kanshiro hirome tebikae No. 4Enlightenment and mystification文明怪化 The title story of this fourth volume in the Kanshiro series is inspired by TNS-876 Mysterious incidents (click this link for full translation and commentary). The story/volume title "enlightenment and mysification" (文明怪化 bunmei kaika) -- and the line "reign of civilization and enlightement" (文明開化の御世 bunmei kaika no miyo) in the following blurb from the band of the hardcover edition -- come from the narrative on this news nishikie
Principal charactersBunmei kaika differs in several respects from the first three volumes in the Kanshiro series. There was a greater gap in months before the stories destined for the fourth volume began to appear in the monthly magazine, and the stories appeared more sporadically over a longer span of months. Perhaps Takahashi was busier doing other things, or maybe he simply took more time to contrive the stories. Most conspicuously, though, the design of the fourth volume, including the style of the blurb on the cover band, was somewhat different. Unlike the other collections, Bunmei kaika begins with a list of its principle characters (page 5, my translation).
Stories and associated printsThe title pages shows color thumbs of fifteen prints (13 TNS, 2 YHS). Nine stories are illustrated by one print, three stories by two prints. The stories and their prints are as follows.
The man who came backFirst published in the March 2004 edition of Shosetsu Subaru, "The man who came back" was well conceived to lead off Volume 4 of the Kanshiro series (pages 7-30). The central characters have to be introduced to new readers, and continuing readers need to be brought up to date on developments since Volume 3. Since Volume 3, there has been a change in governments, and Kanshiro has gone overseas. Edo has become Tokyo. Newspapers have come into vogue. Nishikie depicting the most intresting and shocking stories are circulating. These and other props vital to the background of the stories Takahashi wishes to tell need to be placed on the stage of late 1874 barely six years into the Meiji era. And, as early as possible, Takahashi needs to provide his heroes with a mystery to solve. No better way to kick things off than with a story about a dog dragging a head of a woman whose body police find buried behind a shed in a remote village of distant Kyushu -- and a question of what really happened. Summary of opening scenesKanagaki Robun, who is then 46, cross paths with a loquacious young man with a fashionable cropped head who introduces himself as Makino Shokyoku. Robun takes a liking to the man, who says he was raised as an orphan at a temple in Nagasaki. (Pages 8-13) Shokyoku mentions that Yanagawa Chojuro will be performing London Magic at Sensoji in Ueno. Robun says he's seen the show, and was impressed by the trick in which a chicken is slaughted, blood gushing from its neck as its head falls to the stage, and brought back to life. Shokyoku says he's come to Tokyo all the way from Nagasaki precisely to see that, because he's always wanted to be a magician. (Pages 13-14)
Robun agrees that London Magic has been a great hit. People will come to see anything foreign, he says. Shokyoku attributes part of the shows popularity to coverage in Tokyo Daily News. Robun says that's because Saigiku and Yoshiiku like such things. (Page 14)
Shokyoku recognizes that Saigiku is Jono Denpei. Robun notes that Saigiku, who also goes by the name Sansantei Arindo, is an old gesakusha pal, and that Yoshiiku is a drawer, and that the two men founded Daily News. (Page 14)
Robun and Shokyoku talk for nearly two pages about Tokyo Daily in particular and newspapers of Japan generally. Their conversation dwells on the killing of some fishermen from the Ryukyu Kingdom [Okinawa] by some Taiwanese villagers, the punitive expedition that disembarked from Nagasaki to punish the villagers, Kishida Ginko's reportage of the expedition for Tokyo Daily, and the political status of Ryukyu in relation to Japan and Ching [China under Qing dynasty]. (Pages 15-16)
Robun, impressed by Shokyoku's knowledge of all this, says that Saigiku and Yoshiiku might like to meet him, seeing as how he was from Nagasaki and they think Tokyo Daily is read only in the Tokyo area. Shokyoku, who plans to live in Tokyo for at least half a year, is delighted by the prospects of meeting them . . . . (Page 16) A black-and-white image of the Tsujibun edition of TNS-865a fills page 17, and the story resumes from page 18 as follows (pages 18-22, structural translation by William Wetherall; parenthetical remarks in original; bracketed comments added).
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Fujiokaya YoshizoFujiokaya Yoshizo (1793-187?) is an historical figure. Fujiokaya (藤岡屋) was the shop name of Sudo Yoshizo (須藤由蔵 Sudō Yoshizō), a late-Edo book book dealer and information broker. Sudo began vending used books from a straw mat he spread alongside a stretch of Onarimichi that ran through Kanda in the vicinity of present-day Akihabara. He also recorded, daily, information that people could read for a fee. He was variously dubbed "Dharma of Onarimichi" (御成道の達磨), "Chronicle book dealer" (御記録本屋 go-kiroku hon'ya), and "Book Yoshi" (本由 Hon'yoshi), an abbreviation of "Yoshizo the book dealer" 本屋の由蔵. Fujiokaya diariesSudo amassed a total of 150 volumes (巻 kan) bound in 152 fascicles (冊 satsu) in what came to be known as "Fujiokaya nikki" (藤岡屋日記) or "Fujiokaya diaries". The entries in these "diaries" span 65 years, from 1804 to 1868, and cover all manner of topics, including information and gossip about the sometimes scandalous activities of government officials. |
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15-volume complete workThe originals diaries were lost in the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. They have been most recently published, from facsimile editions, in a 15-volume work compiled by Suzuki Tozo and Koike Shotaro.
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2-volume digest workBecause the original work is not very accessible -- each volume in the printed edition has over 600 pages and the content is not well organized -- Suzuki, a professor of Japanese literature, folklore, and oral traditions, edited selected material into two smaller volumes for the general reader. The two volumes came out during the final two years of Suzuki's life (1911-1992), before all the volumes in the complete work had been published, and five years before Takahashi's Kanshiro stories began running in Shosetsu Subaru. They have since been re-issued in a bunko (paperback) edition -- testifying to the increased interest in such sources.
OnarimichiOnarimichi (御成道) was the name a route that ran northeast from Edo castle, through the Kanda bridge gate (神田橋門 Kandabashimon) at the bridge which crossed the inner moat into the Kanda area, then through the Sujikai bridge gate (筋違橋門 Sujikaibashimon) at the Sujikai checkpoint (筋違見附 Sujikaimitsuke) at the bridge which crossed the Kanda river segment of the outer moat into Outer Kanda (外神田 Soto Kanda), the vicinity of Akihabara in Chiyoda-ku today. The route, which contunied to Ueno and eventually Nikko, was used when visiting Kan'eiji and other Tokugawa temples at Ueno and Toshogu at Nikko. "Sujikai" (筋違) designates a crossroad -- here the crossing of Onarimichi and Nakasendo (中山道). |
Kanagaki Robun's AguranabeKanagaki Robun (1829-1894) was one of the most important writers of both fiction and reportage in the late Edo and early Meiji periods. He was closely associated with sketch artists like Yoshiiku and also worked with Yoshitoshi. See Who's Who in the Almanac section for more information about him and his writing. Aguranabe"Beef pot" in the above blurb on Volume 4 of the Kanshiro series reflects 牛鍋 (gyūnabe, ushinabe), the specialty of "beef-potters" (牛鍋屋 gyūnabeya) or "beef shops" (牛店 ushiya, gy#363;ten). Robun portrayed the fashionable ambiance of such eateries in his best known work, a parody entitled "Ushiya zōdan / Aguranabe" (牛店雑談 ／ 安愚楽鍋) or "Beef shop small talk: Cross-legged [at a beef] pot". "Aguranabe", as the story is usually called, was published as three volumes (編) in five fascicles (冊). The first volume (one book) and second volume (two books) came out in 1871, and the third volume (two books) appeared in 1872. The word "agura" is usally graphed 胡坐 or 胡座 (both of which are read "koza" in Sino-Japanese) if not 胡床 (koshō). It derives from Japanese "a" meaning "foot" or "leg" and "kura" meaning a mount or platform on which one sat, usually while folding the legs and crossing the ankles. In time the word designating the seat became the term for the manner of sitting. The term "kura", which also means "saddle", is a suffix in a number of words, including -- possibly -- "makura" or "pillow" which seats or rides the head (atama). Why Robun graphed the word 安愚楽 (a-gu-ra) is a bit of a mystery. On the surface it is an example of the sort of visual wordplay that gesaku writers in particular loved. Here it might imply that sitting cross-legged at a pot of beef was a "safe, absurd, pleasurable" way to put on airs of civilization and enlightenment. The story pokes fun at the rush to abandon the native in favor of the exotic -- particularly men who sit cross-legged before a steaming beef pot while drinking conventional sake and reading "news" (shinbun) in a newfangled "newspaper" (shinbunshi) For details on this important reference to the growing popularity of newspapers the very year Tokyo's first daily papers appeared, see On "nishikie shinbun". Facsimile editionThe Seishido edition has been republished in a facsimile edition by the Museum of Japanese Literature (日本近代文学館 Nihon Kindai Bungaku Kan). The reproduction is faithful to the point of not correcting an error made in the original publication -- namely, leaves 21-26 of Book 1 of Volume 3 have been switched with leaf 21 of Book 2 of Volume 3.
ColophonThe colophon of the original edition, as reproduced in the facsimile, reads as follows.
The page pasted inside the front cover of the reproduction attributes the production to Kanagaki Robun (假名垣魯文作) and the pictures to Shojō Kyōsai (猩々暁齋畫). A number of descriptions of this work -- including Kobayashi's (Kanagaki 1997:8) -- state that Yoshiiku was the illustrator. In fact, several pictures bear one or another of Kawanabe Kyosai's several signatures. 
FrontispieceHowever, the first (kuchie, frontispiece) illustration of Aguranabe is clearly signed by Yoshiiku -- in a manner that exemplifies his well-known sense of humor.
The name of Yoshiiku's deceased mentor is "Ichiyūsai" -- apparently reborn a cow who enjoys higher status than a sketch artist. Most of Kuniyoshi's students adopted similar names. Yoshiikku is Ikkeisai or Keisai. Yoshitoshi is Ikkaisai or Kaisai. Kawanabe himself, who originally studied under Kuniyoshi, was first 狂斎 and then 暁斎, both of which are read Kyōsai. Bankūkaku also published "Seiyō dōchū hizakurige". In fact, the 2nd book of the 6th volume of "Hazakurige" published an excerpt from "Aguranabe" by way of promoting the forthcoming work, but the excerpt never appeared in finished version (Kobayashi in Kanagaki 1997:6). doronken (奴論建) is a transliteration of ドロンケン from Dutch "dronken" meaning "drunk". This word, also written ドリンケン (dorinken) and トリンケン (torinken), appears to have part of the port lingo of the time (Kojien). The characters Kanagaki used to represent the word could be taken to mean "construction of debate by slaves/servants" Tokei (東京) according to furigana. "black botan" reflects 黒牡丹 (kurobotan, kokubotan) -- a dark purple peony -- or, as here, cant for cow, steer, or water buffalo. Iwanami bunko edition"Aguranabe" is most accessible in the following fully annotated and illustrated bunko edition of Kobayashi Chikahira's recension of the Seishido text.
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Translation
| Partial translation of Westophile story in Aguranabe (1871-1872) | |
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Japanese text Kindai Bungaku Kan facsimile edition of Seishido fascicle edition (1968, Volume 1, 6a-10a |
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西洋好(ずき)の聴取(きゝとり)年ごろは三十四五の男、いろあさぐろけれど、シヤボンをあさゆふつかふと見えて、あくぬけていろつやよく、あたまはなでつけか、そうはつにでもなるところが、百日このかたはやしたるを、右のかたへなでつけ、もつともヲーテコロリといへる、香水をつかふとみえて、かみのけのつやよく、わげはかくべつおほきからず。きぬごろのみちゆきぶりに、たう糸二タ子のわたいれまがひ、さらさの下タ着うらは、はりかへしのがくうらなるべし。カナキンではりたる、かうもりがさを、かたはらへおき、くるしいさんだんにてもとめたる、袖時計のやすものを、えりからはづして、ときどきときを見るはそつちのけ、じつはほかのものへ、見せかけなり。たゞしくさりは、きんのてんぷらと見えたり。となりにうしをくひてゐる、きやくにはなしをしかける。 「モシ あなたヱ、牛(ぎう)は至極高味(しごくかうみ)でごす子。 此肉がひらけちゃア、ぼたんや紅葉(もみぢ)は、くへやせん。こんな清潔なものを、なぜいままで、喰はなかつたのでごウせう。西洋では、千六百二三十年前から、専(もつぱ)ら喰ふやうになりやしたが、そのまえは、牛や羊はその國の王か、全權と云ツて、家老のやうな人でなけりやア、平人の口へは、這入(はいり)やせんのサ。追々我國も、文明開化と號(い)ツて、ひらけてきやしたから、我々までが、喰ふやうになつたのは、實にありがたいわけでごス。それを未だに、野蠻の弊習(へいしう)と云ツて子、ひらけねへ奴等が、肉食すりやア、神佛(しんぶつ)へ手が合されねへの、ヤレ穢(けが)れるのと、わからねへ野暮(やぼ)をいふのは、窮理學を辨(わきま)へねへからの、ことでげス。そんな夷(ゑびす)に、福澤の著(かい)た肉食の説でも、讀せてへ子。モシ西洋にやア、そんなことはごウせん、[この人ござりませんを、ごウせん、ござりますを、げスなど、いふくせあり。] 彼土(あつち)はすべて、理でおして行(ゆく)國がらだから、・・・」 |
Catching [the talk] of a westophileA man some thirty four or five in years, his color [complexion] was light black, but he appears to use soap mornings and evenings, [as] the grime is gone and the luster of his color [complextion] is good As for his head [hair] is it smoothed down, or is smoothed down, for a hundred days this person has let it grow, and is smoothed down toward his right shoulder, he appears to use scented water, called the luster of his hair is good, thrown over the right shoulder 年ごろは三十四五の男、いろあさぐろけれど、シヤボンをあさゆふつかふと見えて、あくぬけていろつやよく、あたまはなでつけか、そうはつにでもなるところが、百日このかたはやしたるを、右のかたへなでつけ、もつともヲーテコロリといへる、香水をつかふとみえて、かみのけのつやよく、わげはかくべつおほきからず。 きぬごろのみちゆきぶりに、たう糸二タ子のわたいれまがひ、さらさの下タ着うらは、はりかへしのがくうらなるべし。 カナキンではりたる、かうもりがさを、かたはらへおき、くるしいさんだんにてもとめたる、袖時計のやすものを、えりからはづして、ときどきときを見るはそつちのけ、じつはほかのものへ、見せかけなり。 He removes a cheapthing of a sleeve watch from neck [of the sleeve], and now and then looks at the time, now and then, たゞしくさりは、きんのてんぷらと見えたり。となりにうしをくひてゐる、きやくにはなしをしかける。 オーデコロン（Eau de Cologne） ヲーテコロリ オー‐デ‐コロン【eau de Cologneフランス】 (「ケルンの水」の意) 香料を加えたアルコール水溶液。もとドイツのケルン在住イタリア人の創製。さっぱりした芳香をもち、香水として明治開化期より流行。西洋道中膝栗毛「逢ふてころりやしやぼんの水で」 eau de cologne reflects ヲーテコロリ (woodekorori). Today "woo" would be written "oo", and "ri" (り) is an error for "n" (ン). in preToday would be written "oodekoron ‘A man about thirty-five, rather swarthy it is true, but of clear complexion, thanks apparently to the daily use of soap, which purges all impurities. His hair, not having been cut for some hundred days, is long and flowing, and looks as if it is in the process of being let out altogether, in the foreign style. Naturally enough, he uses that scent called Eau de Cologne to give a sheen to his hair. He wears a padded silken kimono beneath which a calico undergarment is visible. By his side is his Western-style umbrella, covered in gingham. From time to time he removes from his sleeve with a painfully contrived gesture a cheap watch, and consults the time. As a matter of fact this is merely so much display to impress others, and the chain is only gold-plate. He turns to his neighbor, who is also eating beef, and speaks:"Hello there. Beef is extremely delicious, no? When this meat spreads, we won't be able to eat peony or maple leaves. Why until now haven't we eaten anything so clean? In the west [western sea], [people] came to mainly eat [beef] from one-thousand six-hundred and twenty or thirty years ago, and before that, beef and mutton -- if one wasn't the king of the country, or someone like a house elder, involking complete authority -- never entered [crept toward and into] the mouths of ordinary people. Step by step [in] our country too, in the name of civilization and enlightenment, [beef] has come to spread, so even we have come to eat [it], a truly thankful situation. Guys to whom [beef eating] has not spread -- who even now call [it] a bad practice of barbarians, no? -- If you eat meat, your hands can't be brought together to the gods and buddhas, Hey you'll be dirty calling them rustic boors who don't understand, rustic 野暮 それを未だに、野蠻の弊習と云ツて子、ひらけねへ奴等が、肉食すりやア、神佛へ手が合されねへの、ヤレ穢れるのと、わからねへ野暮をいふのは、窮理學を辨へねへからの、ことでげス。そんな夷に、福澤の著た肉食の説でも、讀せてへ子。・・・」 肉食すりゃ神仏に手が合されねえの、やれ穢（けが）れるのとわからねへ野暮をいうのは、究理学（きゅうりがく）を弁（わきま）へねへからのことでげス。福澤（ふくざわ）の著（かい）た肉食の説でも読ませてへネ」 究理学を弁(わきま)へねへからのことでげスそんな夷(ゑびす)に福澤の著(かい)た肉食の説でも読せてへネ We really should be grateful that even people like ourselves can now eat beef, thanks to the fact that Japan is steadily becoming a truly civilized country. Of course, there are some unenlightened boors who cling to their barbaric superstitions and say that eating meat defiles you so much that you can’t pray any more before Buddha and the gods. Such nonsense shows they simply don’t understand natural philosophy. Savages like that should be made to read Fukuzawa’s article on eating beef. In the West they’re free of superstitions. There it’s the custom to do everything scientifically . . . . |
Notes and commentaryspreads reflects ひらけちゃア (hirakechaa < hirakete wa) -- opens out, unfolds, progresses, develops, blossoms -- said of roads, civilization, opportunity, hope, computer files, even flowers. This resonates not only with the flowerful metaphors for venison and wild boar, but also with the later phrasing -- "step by step . . . in the name of civilization and enlightement, [beef] has come to spread" (追々 . . . 文明開化と號ツて、ひらけてきやした bunmei kaika to itte, hirakete kiyashita). Note that "step by step [gradually] spreading" (追々開け oioi hirake) was a common expression, found also in TNS-876. peony and maple leaves reflects ぼたんや紅葉 (牡丹や紅葉 botan ya momiji) == "boar meat (猪肉 shishiniku) and deer meat (鹿肉 shikaniku). The term "beef pot" (牛鍋 gyū nabe) was inspired by expressions like "boar pot" (牡丹鍋 botan nabe, 猪鍋 inoshishi nabe) and "venison pot" (紅葉鍋 momiji nabe). Another oblique reference to boar -- to get around prohibitions and taboos about eating meat -- was "mountain whale" (山鯨 yamakurjira). Similarly, horse flesh for human consumption was (and still is) called "cherry blossoms" (桜 sakura). Horse meat sashimi is just "sakura" and a "horse meat pot" is "sakura nabe" (桜鍋). During the Tokugawa period, farmers around Edo would shoot boar and deer as pests, and ship them to shops in Edo called "momonjiya" (ももんじ屋) among other names. People would cook such meat in iron pots, much like sukiyaki today, or on iron plates like teppanyaki. clean reflects 清潔な (seiketsu-na) -- as opposed to being dirty (穢れる kegareru) in the sense of being defiled, polluted, soiled, impure, unclean. house elder reflects 家老 (kaō), the highest ranking (chief) retainers serving the lord of a domain. ordinary people reflects 平人 (hirabito, heijin, heinin). Between 1869 and 1871, shortly before Robun wrote this, Tokugawa laws concerning status were revamped or abbrogated, so that formal distinctions between warriors, farmers, craftsmen, merchants, and outcastes were generally reduced to "samurai descendants" (士族 shizoku), meaning disenfranchised, hence former, samurai -- "ordinary folk" (平民 heimin), meaning ordinary or common people -- in addition to members of the imperial family and the titled nobility. Excuse me, but beef is certainly a most delicious thing, isn’t it ? Once you get accustomed to its taste, you can never go back to deer or wild boar again. I wonder why we in Japan haven’t eaten such a clean thing before ? For over 1620 - or is it 1630 - years people in the West have been eating huge quantities of beef. Before then, I understand, beef and mutton were considered the king’s exclusive property, and none ever entered the mouth of a commoner, unless he happened to be something on the order of a daimyo’s chief retainer. We really should be grateful that even people like ourselves can now eat beef, thanks to the fact that Japan is steadily becoming a truly civilized country. Of course, there are some unenlightened boors who cling to their barbaric superstitions and say that eating meat defiles you so much that you can’t pray any more before Buddha and the gods. Such nonsense shows they simply don’t understand natural philosophy. Savages like that should be made to read Fukuzawa’s article on eating beef. In the West they’re free of superstitions. There it’s the custom to do everything scientifically, and that’s why they’ve invented amazing things like the steamship and the steam engine. Did you know that they engrave the plates for printing newspapers with telegraphic needles ? And that they bring down wind from the sky with balloons ? Aren’t they wonderful inventions ! Of course, there are good reasons behind these inventions. If you look at a map of the world you’ll see some countries marked “tropical”, which means that’s where the sun shines closest. The people in those countries are all burnt black by the sun. The king of that part of the world tried all kinds of schemes before he hit on what is called a balloon. That’s a big round bag they fill with air high up in the sky. They bring the bag down and open it, causing the cooling air inside the bag to spread out all over the country. That’s a great invention. On the other hand, in Russia, wich is a cold country where the snow falls even in summer and the ice is so thick that people can’t move, they invented the steam engine. You’ve got to admire them for it. I understand that they modeled the steam engine after the flaming chariot of hell, but anyway, what they do is to load a crowd of people on a wagon and light a fire in a pipe underneath. They keep feeding the fire inside the pipe with coal, so that the people riding on top can travel a great distance completely oblivious to the cold. Those people in the West can think up inventions like that, one after the other... You say you must be going ? Well, good-bye. Waitress ! Another small bottle of sake. And some pickled onions to go with it !’ |
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Kokon chomonju account of esoragoto
The title of the "Esoragoto" (絵空事) story means that a "picture" (絵 e) is "something" (事 koto) in the air (空 sora)" -- a figment of the imagination, smaller or larger than life.
Kojien definition of esoragoto
Kojien (5th edition) defines the term as follows.
え‐そらごと【絵空事】ヱ‥
絵は画家の作意が加わって実物そのものではないということ。転じて、物事に虚偽・誇張の多いこと。架空の作り事。古今著聞集11「ありのままの寸法に書きて候はば見所なきものに候ゆゑに ― とは申すことにて候」e-soragoto【絵空事】we-‥
The matter of a picture being something to which a drawer's creative intents have been added and not the real thing [object] itself. Turned around [by extension], the abundance of falsehoods / exaggerations in [all] things. A fabrication of [something] suspended in the air [a creation of the imagination]. Kokon chomonjū 11: "If one draws [brushes] [something] in the dimensions of its state of existence [as it actual appears], [the picture] will be something which does not have anything to see [will not be worth seeing], hence [it] is a matter [fact] that [people] say a -- [ 絵空事 a picture (worth seeing) is something in the air (imagination) ]."
Kokon chomonjū (古今著聞集) is a "collection of writtings and hearings old and now" completed around 1254 by Tachibana no Narisue (橘成季), whose dates of birth and death are unknown. Narisue was governor of Iga province, which became part of present-day Mie prefecture.
The work is an anthology of "persuasive stories" (説話 setsuwa), which are didactic narratives based on myths, legends, anecdotes, and folktales. The stories are divided into 30 volumes (編 hen), representing 30 topics, and the volumes are published in 20 books (巻 kan).
Fuller context of esoragoto definition
Kojien has discretely chosen not to cite the full context of the line it quotes from Kokon chomonjū about esoragoto -- famous among art historians in Japan as evidence of why exaggeration and deformation became esthetic standards in erotic pictures and caricature.
The line appears in story No. 396 (as numbered in NKBT 84, pages 316-317), called "Matter about Toba Sojo criticizing a picture by an attendant monk and accepting the monk's view" (鳥羽僧正侍法師の繪を難じ法師の所説に承伏の事 (Toba Sōjō jihōshi no e o nanji hōshi no shosetsu ni sh#333;fuku no koto). The story is one of the 24 (Nos. 383-406) that make up Volume 16, on graphic images (画図 gato), which constitutes most of Book 11.
Full translation of esoragoto story
The esoragoto story is worth translating in full. The following translation is based on the text and notes in the NKBT edition of Kokon chomonjū (pages 316-317).
永積安明・島田勇雄 (校注)
Nagazumi Yasuaki and Shimada Isao (proofing and annotation)
古今著聞集
Kokin chomonjū
[Old new (things) written heard collection]
[Collection of stories written and heard past and present]
日本古典文学大系 84
Nihon koten bungaku taikei 84 [NKBT]
[Survey of classical literature of Japan]
東京：岩波書店 Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1966
631 pages, hardcover, boxed
The translation is structural, which means that it closely follows the phrasing and wording of the Japanese text. The translation and glosses are mine (William Wetherall).
| Full translation of esoragoto story in Kokon chomonjū (circa 1254) | |
三九六 鳥羽僧正侍法師の繪を難じ法師の所説に承伏の事同(おなじ)僧正の許(もと)に、繪かく侍法師ありけり。あまりに好(すき)ならひければ、後(のち)ざまには僧正の筆をも恥(はじ)ざりけり。此(この)事を、僧正ねたましくやおもはれけん、いかにもして失を見出さんとおもひ給處(たまふところ)に、或(ある)時件(くだんの)僧、人のいさかひして、腰刀にて突合(つきあひ)たるを書(かき)て、自愛してゐたりけるを、僧正み給(たまふ)に、其つきたる刀、せなかへこぶしながら出(いで)たりけり。よき失と思(おもひ)てのたまひけるは、「わ僧が繪書(ゑかき)ながくとゞむべし。いかなる物(もの)か、人を突(つく)に拳(こぶし)ながら背へいづる事あるべき。つかぐちまでつきたるなどをこそ、いかめしき事にはいふを、これはあるべくもなき事也。かく程の心ばせにては、繪かくべからず」といはれければ、此(この)僧かい畏(かしこまり)て、「其(その)事に候。これは故實(こしつ)に候なり」といふを、僧正いはせもはてず、「わ法師が繪の故實、片腹いたし」といはれけるを、すこしも事とせず、「さも候はず。ふるき上手どものかきて候おそくづの繪などを御覧も候へ。その物の寸法は分に過(すぎ)て大(おほき)に書(かき)て候事、いかでか實(まこと)にはさは候べき。ありのまゝの寸法にかきて候はゞ、見所なき物に候故に、繪そらごとゝは申(まうす)事にて候。君のあそばされて候物の中にも、かゝる事はおほくこそ候らめ」と、へりもを(お)かずいひければ、僧正理にお(を)れていふ事なかりけり。 |
396 Matter of Toba Sojo criticizing a picture by an attendant monk and accepting the monk's viewUnder the same Sojo there was an attendant monk who draws pictures. Being that he so much likes [drawing], when he finished [his work he drew], and in time [as a result] he was not inferior to even Sojo's brush. Sojo was envious of this [attendant's] brush, and thinking he would somehow find some fault, one time the said bonze, [he] drew some people quarreling, and stabbing each other with waist swords, and [he] himself loved [took pride in] [the picture], and when Sojo looks [at it], a sword on [the picture], was coming out of a back with a fist [together with the fist that was still gripping it]. Thinking [this] a good fault, [Sozo] said -- "My bonze should stop drawing for a long time [forever]. What kind of thing [is it / is this], [where] there could be something [a situation] in which [ == (where) it is possible that ] [one] stabs a person and [the sword] comes out of the back with a fist. Stabbing up to the hilt and the like indeed, to say [this] is something magnificent, this is something the possibility of which does not exist [ == this is something which is not possible == this is impossible]. With a state of heart of such extent [with such a set of heart], [one] should not draw pictures." -- whereupon, this bonze with dignity [said] -- "[It] is [in fact] that. This is an old practice." -- but Sojo, not letting him speak to the end, said -- "[Someonly like my monk [expounding on the] old practices of pictures, it's painful to be beside you [ == don't make me laugh == don't be silly == what do you know about such things]." -- but [the monk] not in the least making something [of this] [making nothing at all of this == remaining calm ], said -- modesty [humility, courtesy] undaunted [not flinching] -- "That is not so. Look at the pictures of images of laying and resting which were drawn by the old masters. As for the dimensions of those things, that [the masters] drew them to a size that was excessive in proportion, why should it in fact [of course, rightly] be so [like that]? If one draws [brushes] [something] in the dimensions of its state of existence [as it actual appears], [the picture] will be something which does not have anything to see [will not be worth seeing], hence [it] is a matter [fact] that [people, masters] say a picture is something in the air. Among the things [pictures] you have rendered [done] as well, as for such things ["soragoto" pictures], [I] suppose there are many indeed" -- hence Sojo, bending to reason, had nothing to say. |
Notes and commentaryToba Sōjō (鳥羽僧正), also known as Kakuyō (覚猷 1053-1140), was a Tendai monk and artist of the late Heian period, and an older contemporary of Emperor Toba (1103-1156). Toba the emperor reigned from 1107 to 1123, when too young to rule, and did not rule until a few years after he was forced to abdicate. Kakuyu the monk is rumored (without evidence) to have drawn, or had a hand in drawing, the picture scroll known as "Comic pictures of birds and beasts" (鳥獣戯画 Chōjū giga). The scroll shows rabbits, frogs, monkeys, and other non-human animals frollicing in anthropomorphic poses. Satirical drawings of this kind flourished during the Edo and Meiji periods, when they were known as "Tobae" (鳥羽絵). draws pictures reflects 繪かく, a verb which was probably read "ekaku" and understood to mean 繪を書く (e o kaku) -- or "brush pictures". Today the verb "egaku" is usually graphed 描く or 画く and is used to mean "draw" [pictures] regardless of the drawing medium or method. brush reflects 筆, which was probably read "fude" -- meaning either "brush" as an object or "brushing" as an action. drawing pictures reflects 繪書, which is glossed ゑかき (wekaki, ekaki) and represents a nominalization of 繪かく (see above). My bonze reflects わ僧 (wa sō) and my monk reflects わ法師 (wa hōshi). "Wa" (わ) -- "my" as in "waga " (我が) -- was used toward subordinates. pictures of images of laying and resting reflects おそくづの繪 (osokudzu no we) -- "spring pictures" (春画 shunga) according to the annotation (headnote 18). Kojien (5th edition) graphs the phrase 偃息図の絵 (osokuzu no e), which it attributes to Book 11 of Kokon chomonjū by way of citing the rest of the line that is translated here. Kojien also equates the expression with 春画 (shunga) or "spring pictures" -- the most familiar present-day term for such pictures. Kojien parenthetically notes that 偃息 means 男女同衾 (danjo dōkin) -- literally "man woman same futon" or "a man and woman sleeping together". The Chinese term 同衾共枕 (tóngqīngòngzhĕn) means "same quilt, shared pillow. 偃息 -- "yānxī" in Chinese and "ensoku" in Sino-Japanese -- means "cease and stop" in the sense of "collapsing on one's back and sleeping" or "laying down and resting". Here it is pressed into the service of representing the Japanese word おそく (osoku) -- which would conjecture means either "late (at night)" (晩く osoku) or "rest" (お息 o-soku). old masters reflects ふるき上手ども, which could be read "furuki jōzu domo" or "old skilled ones". Other possible readings of 上手 -- meaning a person who is highly skilled at something -- are uwate, jōshu, and jōte -- made plural by ども (domo). Here ふるき means "old" in the sense of "from old" or "in the past". those things (その物) alludes to the "private parts" (陰部 inbu) depicted on the pictures (headnote 19). a picture is something in the air reflects 繪空事 (esoragoto), which is glossed "pictures (絵画 gaiga) [are] a matter, not of drawing [objects] realistically (写実的に shajitsuteki ni), [but] of exaggeratingly expressing [them]" (headnote 21). you reflects 君 (kimi), then a term of address toward a person one served or was otherwise of superior status. Today the term is mostly used between friends, or by men toward their girlfriends or wifes, or by supervisors toward underlings in an office, and the like. Throughout the narrative, terms of address and verbs reflect the status difference between Sojo and his assistant. |
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Truth in depiction
Story No. 395 (pages 315-316), which immediately precedes the esoragoto account, provides a foundation for understanding something drawn "in the air" as being worth seeing.
The story is called "Matter of alluding to unlawfulness in the deliveries of rice with a picture by Toba Sojo" (鳥羽僧正繪を以て供米の不法に付き諷する事 Toba Sōjō e o mote kyōmai no fūhō ni tsuki fū suru koto). It describes a drawing by Toba Sojo showing a scene in which (page 316, translation mine):
辻風の吹(ふき)たるに米の俵をおほく吹上(ふきあげ)たるが、塵灰のごとくに空にあがる . . . .
When a whirlwind blows [it] blows up bags of rice, and [they] rise in the air like dust and ash . . . .
The picture caught the attention of Emperor Toba, who understood that the bags had only chaff and bran (糟糠 sōkō) and not the real thing (實の物 makoto no mono). Thus made aware of the malfeasance in the shipments of rice -- probably from manor estates (荘園 shōen) to temples, rice being a standard of wealth and the most common currency for tributes, taxes, and stipends -- the emperor took steps to correct the problem.
A bag of rice would have been too heavy for a mere wirlwind to blow into the air.
糟 (zao, kasu) are the lees or dregs that remain after using lowgrade rice to make sake. 糠 (kang, nuka) is the chaff and bran left after threshing and sifting grains rice.
The compound (糟糠 zaokang, sōkō) can mean the chaff and bran used to make an alcoholic beverage, resulting in lees or dregs. By extension it can also mean the lowest quality of rice that poor people would eat.
The expression 糟糠の妻 (sōkō no tsuma) -- from 糟糠之妻 (zaokang zhi qi) in the 5th-century 後漢書 (Hou Hanshu) -- means "a wife of chaff and bran" -- i.e., a poor man's man.
Other sources
Other sources in English include the following.
Yoshiko K. Dykstra
Notable Tales Old and New: Tachibana Narisue's Kokon Chomonju
Monumenta Nipponica (Sophia University)
Volume 47, Number 4 (Winter 1992), pages 469-493 (25 pages)Haruo Shirane (editor)
Sonja Arntzen, Robert Borgen, Richard Bowring, Karen Brazell et al. (translators)
Traditional Japanese Literature: An Anthology, Beginnings to 1600
Translations from the Asian Classics Series No. 1
New York: Columbia University Press, 2007
1288 pages, paper cover
The Columbia anthology includes the following selections from Konkon chomonju -- to give some indication of the variety of stories it contains.
Traditional Japanese Literature
"A Collection of Things Written and Heard in the Past and Present" (Kokon chomonju)
A Certain Woman in Retreat at Iwashimizu
Composes a Poem and Is Blessed by the Gods
Minamoto Yoshiie Exchanges Verses with Abe Sadato at Koromogawa
A Supernumerary Priest of the Outer Shrine, Watarai Morihiro, Tells His Wife About Kyushu Women
A Big Woman and a Small Man in Bed Together
The Monk Who Fell in Love with a Perfectly
Chaste Nun Keisei